1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the field of sample probing (including electrical) using scanning probe and nanoprobing systems.
2. Related Art
Nanoprobing (using scanning or point probing) is a very broad field of analytical science covering various types of electrical, mechanical, compositional and chemical physical characterization of nano-size objects. Nanoelectronic devices and their components are examples of such objects. Electrical probing of single transistors, memory bitcell and critical parts of integrated circuits (IC) is used widely to test performance of newly designed IC and to correct potential problems of the specific IC design or/and overall technology.
To test the elements of an IC, the nanoprobes are made to physically contact the surface of the IC and to scan the surface of the IC. The scanning can be used to generate topography image, capacitance image (dC/dV), etc. To generate those images, every pixel of the image is generated as the probe scan the surface at the same speed and with the same force applied to the probe. However, there are circumstances wherein certain areas of the scanning are not of interest for the particular test, in which case there's no need for slow, high-resolution scanning. In other cases, certain areas of the region of interest (ROI) may constitute a softer or more sensitive layer, such that less force should be applied. In yet other cases the probes should simply contact certain elements without the need for scanning, e.g., to read electrical signals in a point probing mode. Thus, there's a need for improved nanoprobing device and method for operating the nanoprobes, such that the above cases are taken into consideration.